Western New York Karate Center

Shihan Bill

December 2, 2016

A decision, you must make

Have you ever watched a martial artist in a movie or experienced one in your training, and thought, “WOW!  That martial artist is AMAZING!”? If you have ever been inspired in your study of the martial arts, it is very likely for that reason.  It is only natural that one would then consider, “how do I get that good?” The simplest answer is to develop one’s ability to enter the state of mushin no shin, the mind without mind, often referred to simply as mushin. This is a state where the martial artist is not occupied with their thoughts or emotions, not thinking or reacting to a threat, but joining with it instantaneously.  As a martial artist, one should be perfecting one’s ability to enter a state of mushin, but how does one do that?

Here is where an important choice gets made by all students: mushin will be pursued by attempting to remove one’s mind from the equation through the perfection of one’s physical martial arts proficiency OR mushin will be pursued by also developing a spiritual, even mystical, connection with all things.  The vast majority of students will focus solely on training the body so as to attain mushin.

Training the body is comparatively simple.  Exercises for the body are readily tangible and perceptible.  And, the training of the body is one that will feel familiar simply from experience in a gymnasium or from training to perform in any sport.  Certainly, as with those other experiences, repetition of identified movement patterns will, over time, improve both the competency to perform the movement pattern as well as the speed with which it can be effectively executed. The ultimate outcome desired is that these movement patterns can be executed subcortically; decision making will be removed from the process and thus enable the pattern to be executed as quickly as is physically possible.  One hopes to use muscle memory alone to execute the movement pattern.

Here is how this strategy fails in application: muscles need something to direct their action. Typically that is the mind.  If sufficient muscle memory is attained, the mind no longer needs be the director of actions but this does not mean that the muscles can now act with no direction at all.  One may strive to not use one’s mind as part of one’s performance of martial arts, but if one has not developed an alternative source of direction, the body will by default engage one’s mind to provide direction. 

This is not noticeable when one is the first person to take action.  When one is the attacker, the time before the attack, used to decide the exact attack strategy, will not slow down the engagement itself.  Defaulting to direction from the mind is quite noticeable when one is defending.

As a proof, stand within striking range of a training partner who is of similar skill/training, and in turn, execute unannounced simple attacks on each other.  The vast majority of the time, the initiator of the attack will land their strike.  A defender will usually fail to effectively defend against any attack.  This is because, more often than not, anticipating the attack, the defender is still using their mind.  Despite all the muscle memory that person has developed for a variety of defensive response movement patterns, most people will still rely on their mind to interpret the incoming threat and then select the most appropriate response.  That cognitive process will often slow response time sufficiently to enable the attack to be completed before an effective defense can be deployed.

The only alternative form of direction for our body is the spirit.  Through developing one’s connection with qi, one can then “connect” with the attacker. The attacker’s physical intent, how they are directing their body, can become part of one’s experience.  Thus, one will “know” the attack when it is decided upon and can choose one’s response before the attack is actually performed. The defense will then occur in perfect timing and harmony with the attack and be maximally effective.

How one develops one’s connection with qi goes beyond the scope of a small article such as this; books have been dedicated to this subject.  But, the first and most important step is to realize that one must develop one’s spiritual self if one hopes to actually attain mushin. It starts by working on one’s kiai, but it should eventually extend into every aspect of one’s training.  Speak with your primary instructor to learn more about how to engage in the spiritual component of your training.

Western New York Karate Center
Shihan Bill
November 2, 2016

The Importance of Contact

Given the potential for injuries in the practice of martial arts, it is not surprising that a novice student will initially target the air near a training partner when performing training drills. No one should want to hurt a training partner.  But, as stated in the article on randori, “how we train is how we will perform.”  Failing to perform realistic attacks against one’s training partners will undermine learning how to best defend realistic targets of an attack.

For example, if instead of targeting the center of the upper body, we target the air to the side of our partner’s chest, we train our partner how to best defend the air to the side of their chest.  If instead of targeting between the eyes or the chin of our partner, we target the air above or six inches or more in front of their head, we train our partner how to best defend when they possibly didn’t even need to.

Even more important than where we target our training attack, however, is actually attempting to strike our partner.  This is not a direction to strike our training partners with traumatic or lethal force.  It is a direction to attempt to make contact.  In the case of training with unarmed attacks such as with the hands or feet, light contact should be the objective.  In the case of training with weapons, nominal contact should be the objective.

It is understandable if a student is fearful of their ability to modulate the degree of force in an offensive action; but, how else is a student to learn how to modulate force except through practice?  Initially, practice in modulation of force can be performed strictly against a free standing or wall mounted pad.  But, practice in modulation can soon move to hand held targets and then finally to the body of a training partner.  In all cases, practice should start by attempting only nominal contact or a “feather-like” touch.  This should then progress to light contact which involves distortion of the surface of less than quarter inch.  Moderate contact, or a distortion of about a half inch, is the maximum to be used in training on a living body and only with the expressed permission of a regular training partner.  Heavy contact, or a distortion of an inch or more, is not appropriate for training on a partner’s body and should be reserved for pad work only or on actual assailants.  Force modulation practice should also include “pulling” of an attack; launch an attack with a specific intent of contact, such as heavy contact, but stopping the attack short of actual contact or performing no more than nominal contact.

Final thought; contact with actual targets must be the goal with weapons as much as with unarmed training. Indeed, engaging in pad work to develop force modulation with weapons is even more critical than pad work with unarmed training.  The confidence and control developed through pad work with weapons will not only allow for realistic weapon defense training but also thwart the development of false confidence in one’s ability to defend against weapon attacks.

Western New York Karate Center

Shihan Bill

October 7, 2016

Consistency is Key

It is understandable when a karateka appears to engage in Kumite in a manner that is not consistent with Kihon and Kata. Whether the person is training in karate, tae kwon do, or some other system, in a mixed martial arts tournament, only a studious eye might discern which system a participant has been studying when watching them spar.  While Kihon, or the basics, and Kata, or forms, are at the heart of a martial art and perfectly reflect the philosophy of a given martial arts system, Kumite cannot perfectly reflect any given martial arts system.  Martial arts can be lethal and therefore the practice of Kihon and Kata can demonstrate potentially lethal techniques. Kumite cannot be lethal.  If Kumite was practiced in a lethal manner, no dojo would long remain open as its members would either get arrested, die, or quit out of fear of arrest or death. Furthermore, if participants from different systems each entered the ring with a different set of safety guidelines and methods for evaluating success, the potential for lethal misunderstandings would be too great to allow.  A common set of Kumite rules, unique to tournament participation, must be obeyed.  Thus, Kumite training is performed under many strict guidelines intended to provide a common ground of practice that will also preserve the well-being of its participants.

With randori, the real world application of Kumite, the most minimal guidelines are provided in order to preserve the well-being of participants yet otherwise still allow the participants to perform in manner that demonstrates a martial arts system with greatest accuracy.  Randori should not occur outside of a dojo and thus the chance for misunderstanding between participants is significantly reduced.  The real world application of Kihon and Kata is referred to as “self-defense.”  Like randori, self-defense techniques have minimal guidelines to preserve the well-being of participants but otherwise participants should perform in a manner that accurately reflects that martial arts system.

Despite this, students often perform self-defense techniques as if they were in a separate category from Kihon and Kata. Worse, the self-defense techniques often don’t appear altered to safeguard against lethality as much as they appear altered out of ignorance for the need to remain true to the martial arts system. While offensive techniques will be maintained, only a subset from the entire system will usually be demonstrated. Stances will often end up abandoned and defensive techniques will be only partially executed as if they are not viewed as essential to the self-defense technique in the same way as offensive components.  If one hopes to have the practice of Kihon and Kata lead to successful real world use, self-defense techniques must be consistent with the philosophy of the martial arts system.

If one’s martial arts system does not including breaking one’s posture at one’s waist, one’s self-defense technique shouldn’t either.  If one’s martial arts system does not train you to go to the ground or remain on the ground, neither should one’s self-defense technique.  Consistency in training, particularly in how one demonstrates self-defense techniques, is the key to real world success in using one’s martial arts system.

Western New York Karate Center
Shihan Bill
September 30, 2016

Chinkuchi

Chinkuchi (pron. chin-koo-chee), Okinawan for “sinew-bone-energy,” is considered to be at the heart of Isshin-ryu.  There are many karateka who have attempted to interpret what Master Shimabuku meant when he would focus on this concept.  With that in mind, chinkuchi should be considered as worthy of on-going thought and discussion; a dedicated martial artist should not halt their exploration of this topic with any one article and should definitely revisit chinkuchi in their training with frequency.

For our purposes, chinkuchi will be defined as the coordination of the mind, body, and spirit to achieve the most effective Isshin-ryu technique.  Thus, we will examine how each of these elements contributes to chinkuchi.

MIND
When determining the correct course of action, a karateka must be strategic.  The nature of one’s circumstances, the conditions of the environment and the character of one’s opponent(s), as well as the desired outcome of one’s actions, must be considered when selecting a course of action. Furthermore, the mind of a karateka must see each action they will take as part of a series of moves, each timed to be executed at the correct range, with each move setting up the next for the optimal effect.

But, with all this thinking, one should wonder how a karateka could respond fast enough to a threat to have a chance of mounting a successful defense let alone anything else.  As we shall address below, all aspects of chinkuchi must be respectful to the yin-yang of their nature.  As a martial artist should have shoshin, or an open mind, when training, one should have fudoshin, or a fixed mind, when executing a series of moves.  And more critical to chinkuchi, while one should have zanshin, or a state of total awareness, prior to and subsequent to any encounter, mushin, or no-mindness, should be one’s mind during combat.  That is, the role of the mind in chinkuchi is to first strategize before engaging in an encounter, but once started, the mind must be release from active thought during the engagement.

BODY
There is a wealth of physical considerations involved in chinkuchi; so much so that the perfection of physical aspects of chinkuchi practically overwhelms the study of the other two components, mind and spirit.  Indeed some authors when examining chinkuchi speak only of the physical aspect of it and completely neglect the role of mind, spirit, or both.  Moreover, the yin-yang of the physical aspects of chinkuchi, while sometimes obvious, are often left unaddressed:

Stance – one must take the appropriate stance for both the opponent’s threatened action as well as the desired outcome of one’s response.  But, one should also incorporate the fact that while one will be in a stance in some moments, there will also be times where one is not in a stance. Where a stance represents stability and provides the appropriate platform to launch a specific offense or defense, no-stance is a time of flexibility and having multiple possible choices of offense or defense.  Furthermore, chinkuchi in this regard also involves utilizing the movement going between no stance and stance to make the desired techniques to follow even more effective.

Breathing – control of one’s breath will not only significantly affect one’s endurance in an encounter but, more importantly, also chinkuchi.  While one might think that the yin-yang of breathing is simply the pairing of inhalation and exhalation, it also is the pairing of the flow of breath and holding one’s breath.  Conscious control of the timing, speed, volume, and depth of a breath is as important as all other physical aspects in achieving effective chinkuchi.

Power – likely the most seductive aspect of martial arts, power is also the most misunderstood.  Too often, students focus on generating a degree of force that will be so decisively destructive that no defense will deter the irresistible intensity of their action.  Let alone the fact that a karateka should consider both non-destructive techniques as well as destructive ones, a focus on intense force often leads a student to tense muscles that must be relaxed for the best chinkuchi.  But there is more than just tension and relaxation involved in the generation of power.  The yin-yang of power also includes  hard contact and light contact, expanding of limbs and contracting of limbs and all in a coordinated manner throughout the entire body such that the body is solid where and when it needs to be and fluid otherwise.  Respect and use of the yin-yang of power will not only allow for the appropriate and desired degree of force to be generated but also will contribute to developing the maximal possible speed in the delivery of that force.

Form – form is the final physical component.  While form often refers to specific techniques executed in their ideal manner, form also refers to a set of underlying principles. For example, the shoulder is able to be engaged with the greatest strength when it is either at 45 degrees above or 45 degrees below the plane of the shoulders.  The elbow is able to be engaged with the greatest strength when it is at a 90 degree angle.  Also, one should generally maintain an upright posture without leaning forward or backward and certainly not to either side.  The yin-yang of this component refers strictly to its self; one is either demonstrating form or one is formless.  Similar to stance, it is in the transition from formlessness to form where chinkuchi will find its best expression.

SPIRIT
The third and final element is spirit.  By spirit, I refer to qi or the life-force. For the best chinkuchi, a martial artist must engage their connection with qi.  The yin-yang of this element is that one can either be expending qi or absorbing qi between one’s self and one’s environment.  Most common, the martial artist will take the qi directed to him or her by the aggressor and then either allow it to flow through, divert it, hold it, or send it back to the aggressor.  Master Shimabuku put a particular emphasis on the act of “centering” with regard to this element of chinkuchi. Centering in Isshin-ryu refers to fully connecting one’s lower dantian with the qi of the universe; connecting at the soles of one’s feet, up through the legs and into the lower dantian as well as connecting at the crown of one’s head, down through the neck and chest and into the lower dantian. The lower dantian is located three finger widths below the navel and two finger widths deep.  The lower dantian is also called the “golden stove” and “cinnabar field” and is thought of as the “root of the tree of life.” By centering, the mind becomes clear and the body not only becomes balanced, it also becomes immovable.  Further, by centering, one achieves full control over the flow of qi within one’s body and thus one’s qi cannot be used against one.

In summary, chinkuchi is the coordination of mind, body, and spirit, respecting the yin-yang of every aspect of each, in such a manner that one is able to be maximally effective in what one intends when one acts as a martial artist.  While the above should impress one that there are many aspects to chinkuchi to consider and could be experienced as almost overwhelming, it is recommended that one should instead consider that it is the pursuit of chinkuchi that makes martial arts a lifelong process.  It may be a lot, but taken a piece at a time, and then a chunk at a time, chinkuchi can be achieved.  But, it certainly will not be achieved if you don’t consciously and routinely give it attention as an organizing principle of training.